Inquiry Magazine Archive

Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.

Fiber-Filled

Pipe Protocols

Researcher receives over $1 million to test sturdier pipes under Texas highways

UTA researchers recently received some help in their effort to strengthen Texas highways—over $1 million in grants.

Civil engineering Chair Ali Abolmaali and Research Associate Yeonho Park have spent five years extensively researching longer-lasting, sturdier concrete pipes reinforced with polypropylene synthetic macrofibers and developed in UTA labs. Now, thanks to an $800,000 contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the team will install the pipes in Texas highway projects. A separate, $283,000 contract from the American Concrete Pipe Association will allow them to go national: The team will develop the 100-year service life protocol testing criteria for built pipes in Florida.

“The UTA-developed fiber pipes first attracted TxDOT engineers for implementation in Texas for a more durable and resilient infrastructure,” says Dr. Abolmaali, who is also the Dr. Tseng Huang Endowed Professor in the College of Engineering.

UTA and TxDOT will implement the pipes under highways and roadways that are subjected to heavy vehicle traffic. Abolmaali’s team will design, produce, and evaluate the pipes, along with conventional concrete pipes, during their installations. A UTA-owned robot will transmit condition assessment data as it travels through the pipes upon construction.

“The UTA fiber pipes will not experience corrosion of reinforcement during their lifetime,” Abolmaali says. “That has and will continue to attract many departments of transportation around the country and the world.”